Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Would you buy this house?

95 replies

PossiblyDreaming · 26/01/2022 21:13

5 years ago dh and I were looking at buying a house and there was one that I fell in love with but dh hated. It was a 300 year old fisherman’s cottage with low ceilings, really thick walls and cosy fireplaces. Basically my dream house as I’ve always wanted a period property and there were so many beautiful features like the old beams and tiled floors etc.

Anyway 6’2” dh talked sense into me as he’d have to spend the whole time ducking from beams and we instead went for a detached new build with a nice big garden on a completely bland estate. All very practical and boring.

Dh and I have now split up and the original cottage I loved is up for sale again and I can afford it. But, the owners that have had it for the last few years have completely gutted it - lowered the floors on the ground floor so the ceiling doesn’t seem so low, boxed in the beams, all the lovely, wonky walls have been boxed in and plastered flat and painted grey. Open fireplace replaced with a bloody ugly wood burner. Aga replaced with an enormous spaceship looking oven.

I could afford to fix it all again but it seems such a waste of resources to basically undo something that someone has spent the last few years doing. It would also probably involve dc and I living elsewhere for at least a few months while work was being done. But it is (or was) so bloody gorgeous.

Cottages like this come up so rarely and are normally snapped up as second homes within hours. I’m guessing it’s the fact that this has been so horribly renovated that people have been out off.

Wwyd?

OP posts:
SleepingStandingUp · 26/01/2022 22:02

do it, then undo their heathen ill-doings and make it your cosy chocolate box cottage

SarahAndQuack · 26/01/2022 22:08

@AngelinaFibres

They have probably made all these changes because the house is actually freezing in the winter. A friend bought a very old house. They carefully stripped and stained all the floorboards downstairs. It looked beautiful , until the winter came , when it was absolutely freezing. The insulated underlay and wool carpet they had sneered at went back down. If you haven't got a bottomless pit of money I would walk away
It's not about sneering - you don't avoid certain things in old houses for the snob value. It's because those houses were not designed in the same way as new builds. If you try to import things suitable to a new house, it may damage an older property.
Original poster
PossiblyDreaming · 26/01/2022 22:16

I don’t think it’s freezing. I’ve stayed in a very similar cottage on the same road and it seems ok. I think the removal of the Aga will have made it a lot colder though.

OP posts:
user1493494961 · 26/01/2022 22:19

I would buy it, maybe do changes gradually.

SquirrelG · 26/01/2022 22:42

I would go for it OP - the fact that it is back for sale now that your DP has gone seems like a sign to me! You will kick yourself later if you don't buy it - it sounds gorgeous.

OrchidFlakes · 26/01/2022 22:46

Do it and change it back room at a time so you can live there at the same time as doing the work. It’s meant to be yours

Thirtytimesround · 26/01/2022 22:46

DP talked you out of it last time.

Feels like you want us to talk you out of it this time. 🤔

Make your own decision: we can’t know how much you love it or how much work is involved.

JanuaryBluehoo · 26/01/2022 22:49

Why oh why buy such a place and try and modernise or

Unsure33 · 26/01/2022 22:51

It depends on the area as well ? Do you love where it is ? Would lovely skirting disguise where the floor has been lowered ? Can you find out from the buyers exactly how they covered the walls ? Have you actually viewed it since the changes ?

TheHoptimist · 26/01/2022 22:52

[quote PossiblyDreaming]@Shadowboy the surfaces are now so flat compared to how they used to be that I think (hope) they’ve used plasterboard that then has been plastered over so it should be too much to get it back to the original walls.[/quote]
I had a house built in 1720 which had horse hair type plaster in some rooms. It ended up being covered because it wasn't possible to recreate (well unless you were national heritage)

Original poster
PossiblyDreaming · 26/01/2022 23:02

I’ve got a viewing booked for tomorrow afternoon. I’m just attempting to talk myself out of it as I know I’m thinking with my heart rather than my head. But I want it Grin

@TheHoptimist luckily my SIL’s brother owns a company that specialises in restoring medieval buildings. The cottage isn’t that old, obviously, but he’ll definitely be able to give me some pointers.

OP posts:
SarahAndQuack · 26/01/2022 23:50

@PossiblyDreaming

I’ve got a viewing booked for tomorrow afternoon. I’m just attempting to talk myself out of it as I know I’m thinking with my heart rather than my head. But I want it Grin

@TheHoptimist luckily my SIL’s brother owns a company that specialises in restoring medieval buildings. The cottage isn’t that old, obviously, but he’ll definitely be able to give me some pointers.

It sounds as if you are really in love with it.

Are you going to get a structural survey?

Can you go round it visualising how it will be when you return it to how it was? I think personally, I would have romanticised how it was the first time around - were the low beams charming or just oppressive, etc?

(I do absolutely love the idea of this house, though, so please don't think I am trying to put you off! It sounds very pretty.)

lljkk · 27/01/2022 06:45

MONEY pit.

Thatsplentyjack · 27/01/2022 07:23

If you have a bottomless pit of money, go for it

user1471548941 · 27/01/2022 07:24

Messaging you from a house that came on the market in 2015 and was out of my budget. Quirky and completely weird but I LOVED it!

I still hadn’t bought in 2017 and it came back on the market and I viewed with my now ex. Someone else out bid us. I asked the estate agent to keep our details and call us if it fell through. They never did. 4 weeks later it was still on Rightmove so I phoned and chased. It had fallen through. We offered then an there. Sale took 8 months but we hung on. I agreed to make some compromises on decor for the ex.

Relationship broke down not long after we moved in and the thing I was devastated about was selling my dream house. My Dad helped me concoct an slightly outrageous financial plan to buy him out. It stretched every penny of my finances and I had to borrow a bit from my parents but in 2019 I became the sole owner. I was skint due to paying the mortgage and repaying my loan but in 2022 this is still my dream house.

Money is less tight now and the house is still getting the TLC it deserves. It’s a tiny one bed so I won’t be able to stay here forever but I now live here with my fiance and he has agreed to keep living here for a few more years. I get home everyday and think how much I love my home and still look around when I’m simply sat on the sofa and marvel at how much I love it and that I can’t believe it’s mine.

So DO IT. Lots of damp and a very leaky roof never made me love the place any less so it sounds like you can do it!

TunaGuitar · 27/01/2022 07:48

@TheHoptimist you can buy haired plaster from all the manufacturers, - try Mike Wye. It's nothing crazy, I used it in places when I plastered our home. It gives you a very strong, flexible base and you can always skim a coat of plain lime plaster over to hide the little hairs. Shame your new solution won't last 300 years.
We easily found it 17 years ago in the early internet days, google is your friend.

AddingMustard · 27/01/2022 07:51

Are your DC the children of your ex? Are they going to have the same problem he would have had- constantly hitting their heads on beams etc ?

ShowOfHands · 27/01/2022 07:58

Aah please link it.

Anybody who has the money and wants to buy in that location will be looking at it anyway. Assuming it's advertised online already, linking on here won't make a difference.

IncompleteSenten · 27/01/2022 07:59

I would absolutely buy it and put it back how it should be.

blackfriars · 27/01/2022 08:00

I’m so sad someone did this to your house!

KTB19 · 27/01/2022 08:19

I would go for it. You liked the property initially and now the opportunity has come up for you to purchase it. I think you will regret it if you dont.

I reckon you should go for it - you will make it your home and in one way or another. Let us know how you get on.

DePfeffoff · 27/01/2022 08:57

Would you change the floors back? On the face of it it makes sense to keep them as they are to give a bit of height. And Agas are a bit overrated IMO.

It depends really whether there are comparable houses around. You might prefer to use your money to make a similar house ideal rather than just to undo what has been done to this house.

Crumbs22 · 27/01/2022 09:08

I would not because the time has passed and I don't think it makes sense to spend money to 'undo' then 'redo'. Look out for another similar, you never know.

SarahAndQuack · 27/01/2022 09:24

@TunaGuitar, sorry, I'm butting into the OP's thread, but did you do the lime plaster yourself, and how did you find it in terms of difficulty? I've got patches in my house where the old landlords re-plastered with new plaster and they're really damp, but I'm struggling to find a builder who'll do lime plaster repairs.

Original poster
PossiblyDreaming · 27/01/2022 13:36

I’m waiting for the estate agent to turn up to let me in GrinGrin. I’m so excited and keep peeking through the windows (it opens directly onto the road but it’s just a little side road by a church so not really any traffic).

@DePfeffoff there are quite a few other cottages like this in town (touristy fishing village) but they normally get snapped straight up as second homes. This one is relatively cheap as there’s no parking but my dm lives at the top of the hill and has space on her drive for my car too. I’d probably leave the floors lowered but get them nicely tiled or proper wood flooring. I think it’s those vinyl tiles with grey wood print on at the moment, it’s hard to tell from the photos but it’s very modern and not how o would choose to have it. I agree Aga’s are overrated and will cost a fortune to run now anyway with current gas prices. The original one did the water heating too though and I’m guessing helped keep the house warm.

@AddingMustard dc’s are ex’s so will quite possibly face the same problems. They are only 6 and 9 atm but they’re both the tallest in their class. It will be good for them to practice dodging though. They’d also be in the two bedrooms in the attic which are really low. I’m currently trying to sell it to them by telling them it will be like Ron Weasley’s house in Harry Potter.

@user1471548941 I’m so happy for you that you’re in your dream home. I just want that. To come back from a long walk or a busy day and be home, properly home, not just in a house that is mine.

OP posts: